Windows 10 To Get OS X-Like Handoff Feature With Anniversary Update

Microsoft is working to add Handoff-like functionality to Windows, with the latest release of Windows 10 Redstone already giving the game away. Similar to Handoff on a Mac or iOS device, Microsoft’s new feature will allow users to start something on one device and then continue it on another without the need for syncing or configuration to take place ahead of time.

Originally expected to be part of Continuum and announced this past March, Windows 10 Redstone now features references to the feature that suggest it is on the brink of being ready for public consumption.

As a screenshot of the Windows 10 Redstone Settings menu shows, the feature will “let apps on your other devices launch apps and continue experiences on this device over Bluetooth.” Apple’s Handoff offers very similar features within the Mac and iPhones or iPads already, and this will signify the first time that Apple has entered the fray of making it possible to continue tasks across multiple devices with the minimum of friction.

That’s not all, as it seems Cortana will also have the ability to remind you of unfinished tasks from other devices.

The theory, or indeed, the practice, if you use a Mac and associated iOS devices, is that a user could start composing an email on their computer before completing and sending it from a smartphone.

The new Handoff-like feature, found under the “Change privacy options” section in the Settings app

This can save untold amounts of time over days, months and years and just generally makes you feel just a little bit like James Bond. But not a lot, unfortunately.

Windows 10 Redstone is the developer codename for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which is due at some point this coming summer. Those who have signed up for developer previews should be able to take advantage of the additional feature already, or at least as soon as it is pushed out to the computer in question.